Bypass UAC via Sdclt

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Identifies User Account Control (UAC) bypass via sdclt.exe. Attackers bypass UAC to stealthily execute code with elevated permissions.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

  • logs-endpoint.events.*
  • winlogbeat-*
  • logs-windows.*

Severity: high

Risk score: 73

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References: None

Tags:

  • Domain: Endpoint
  • OS: Windows
  • Use Case: Threat Detection
  • Tactic: Privilege Escalation
  • Tactic: Defense Evasion
  • Data Source: Elastic Defend

Version: 1

Rule authors:

  • Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

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/* add winlogbeat-* when process.code_signature.* fields are populated */
/* still needs testing, applicable binary was not available on test machine */

sequence with maxspan=1m
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.name : "sdclt.exe" and
     /* uncomment once in winlogbeat */
     /* process.code_signature.subject_name == "Microsoft Corporation" and process.code_signature.trusted == true and */
     process.args : "/kickoffelev"
  ] by process.entity_id
  [process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and process.parent.name : "sdclt.exe" and
     not (process.executable : "C:\\Windows\\System32\\sdclt.exe" or
          process.executable : "C:\\Windows\\System32\\control.exe" or
          process.executable : "C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\sdclt.exe" or
          process.executable : "C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\control.exe")
  ] by process.parent.entity_id

Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM